[acs] CMIS to Progresso Upgrade path

[Oaktech]

Can anyone give me any info on the system requirements and update path for progresso from cmis, i'm currently struggling to get past the "isn't it intuitive and amazing" sales pitch, which quite frankly is of no interest to me! Edited March 22, 2012 by Oaktech

[vikpaw]

@Oaktech - i've moved your post here, it'll get much more airtime rather than being hidden in the Financial software thread.

[6Foot2]

We are preparing to migrate to Progresso at the moment. I have been asked to check that our current Serco Facility/ePortal server has the following/is configured in the following way:

 

 

• .NET Framework Version 4.0
  
• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is installed and its running.
  
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 /2005 standard edition ( In case of SQL 2005 SP4 is needed)
  
• If named instance is being used on the SQL Server then please use Server name/instance name in the DVT tool for the Server name.
  

 

Server O/S: Windows server 2003.

 

I have no other information at the moment.

[Oaktech]

Right... thanks for that. I'm looking at our CMIS server at the moment, and all i've been able to ascertain is that we are .net 4 capable. I can't work out if we have ssis and if we don't were to get it from! We have sql 2005, but only sp3, so we need to schedule an sp4 update. Not sure i understand the last point!

[6Foot2]

...Not sure i understand the last point!

 

That one has me baffled too!

 

On a side note aren't you getting assistance from the Serco Helpdesk? That is where our Database Manager got this info from which she then forwarded to me.

[Tallwood_6]

I think the requirements will vary depending on if your looking at having progresso hosted by Serco which i think the majority of people are looking at, or if your going to host it onsite yourself.

[Oaktech]

Well, I got told to 'read up' by our head of college yesterday, I'm duly trying to do that. I've requested info from Serco from 2 different contacts. One has not got back to me at all and the other has said they can't find our college on the 'upgrade list' (which probably means the head has not yet formalised the purchase) and as such can't (won't) release any info to us. So I'm poking around in the dark trying to gather titbits of info from all over without really getting a clear picture of what on earth this is going to involve!

[Oaktech]

I think the requirements will vary depending on if your looking at having progresso hosted by Serco which i think the majority of people are looking at, or if your going to host it onsite yourself.

 

Right... We will absolutely be hosting onsite, we have a college policy in place which precludes the use of offsite hosted services for student data.

[6Foot2]

I think the requirements will vary depending on if your looking at having progresso hosted by Serco which i think the majority of people are looking at, or if your going to host it onsite yourself.

 

I was under the impression that Serco had decreed that they would host our data for the first three years [at least] and that this checking of our server spec is only to ensure that the migration goes smoothly[?]

[Tallwood_6]

Right here is my understanding from the launch event and meetings since:

Progresso will only be offered as a hosted service to start with and the cost of moving to progresso from CMIS if you currently have a valid contract will be £0 however there will be a per pupil hosting cost which i dont have to hand.

The onsite progresso hosting will be an option available in the future although they seemed to suggest that this is somthing geared more towards local authorities and the like rather than single sites.

Only your current dataset will be migrated from CMIS so you will still need to keep CMIS kick around for a fair number of years either on a laptop or a virtual server.

There is a service that serco will offer at a price to check over your current setup and do a bit of a data check do ensure that everything goes smoothly.

I've have not heard anything about how long serco are willing to host the data for but in theory they should be keeping 6 years worth of data.

[Oaktech]

Hmmm... Not sure our SLT knows that! It's going to put the cat amongst the pigeons policy wise as we have always actively avoided sending pupil data offsite for any reason! I think I will wait for some more info before stressing much more about this!

[michael2k6]

Hi There,

 

I'd just like to clear up a few points....

This information Posted by @DaveP is about running the DVT (Data Validation Tool) which will help us migrate data from your Facility Database to Progresso. It is not the spec required for running Progresso on a Facility server. (see below)

 

 

•.NET Framework Version 4.0

•SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is installed and its running.

•Microsoft SQL Server 2008 /2005 standard edition ( In case of SQL 2005 SP4 is needed)

•If named instance is being used on the SQL Server then please use Server name/instance name in the DVT tool for the Server name.

 

 

To explain the last bullet, when you install SQL database services, you will either install with the default instance or specify an instance name. 90% of the time this will be on the default instance. In this case the server name is all that is needed in the 'server name' field of the DVT. If it is installed on a named instance then the 'server name' field should be SERVERNAME\INSTANCENAME. I'm sure that your project manager will assist with this if you have any issues.

 

At the moment you would need to speak to your account manager regading self hosting but I believe it is only feasible when the economies of scale set in, hence the suggestion that it might be restricted to LA or large Academy Chains hosting centrally at the moment. I wouldn't like to speculate any further as I don't have th efull and correct information.

@Tallwood_6 I believe that you've misunderstood about the data which is migrated. My understanding is that any data for current learners is transfered. You will need to keep the Facility database as an archive for leavers.

@Oaktech feel free to contact me directly by PM if you feel that you need some assistance or some questions answering in private / specifically to your establishment. If I cannot answer them I will certainly make sure that someone else gets in contact and does.

 

SSIS is SQL Server Integration Services. Check for the service in services list. If it's not there you can install it by using the original install media for SQL (make sure it's the same version) and when you go through the install make sure you're only adding SSIS.

 

I hope that sheds some light on things, if it doesn't keep asking!

 

Regards

Mic Sanderson

Serco Learning

 

 

The above post is my own and is not the opinion or sentiments of my employer or associates of my employer.

[Tallwood_6]

Sorry yes that's quite right I have to get the whole dataset concept out of my head.

[Banjo]

From my understanding going down the single site hosting route is going to have some major disadvantages, certainly in the begining. If you are hosted by Serco then all the schools within that cluster will be able to swap custom reports that they have written. If you are hosting yourself, then you would have to recreate the reports from scratch, or hope that Serco incorportate that report into a general release along with the other standard reporting set.